Sen. Warren: "Our democracy is in real danger...This is the time to amend the Constitution"
Video of the Senator’s Remarks
Washington, DC – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren today delivered a speech on the floor of the Senate in support of a pending constitutional amendment, introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), that would give Congress and individual states the authority to regulate campaign finance and rein in money pouring into our political process.
Senator Warren remarked on the enormous impact of super PAC money in the 2012 presidential election, “32 people spent slightly more on the 2012 elections than the 3.7 million typical Americans who sent modest dollar donations to their preferred Presidential candidate. When 32 people can outspend 3.7 million citizens, our democracy is in real danger.”
The flood of money into our political system is a consequence of the Supreme Court’s “extraordinary” line of cases, starting with Citizens United, which Warren noted “overturned a century of precedent, voiding campaign finance restrictions passed by Congress and making it far easier for millionaires, billionaires and big corporations to flood our elections with massive amounts of money.”
In her speech, the Senator explained that the pending amendment would “try to reverse the damage inflicted on our country by these decisions. We are here to fight back against a Supreme Court that says there is no difference between “free speech” and billions of dollars spent by the privileged few to swing elections and to buy off legislators. We are here to fight back against a Supreme Court that has overturned a century of established law in an effort to block Congress from solving this problem.”
“There are times when action is required to defend our great democracy against those who would see it perverted into one more rigged game where the rich and the powerful always win,” Warren said. “This is the time to amend the Constitution. I urge my colleagues to support this effort. We were not sent here to run this country for a handful of wealthy individuals and giant corporations. We were sent here to do our best to make this country work for all the people.”
###
Next Article
